Facebook has to clarify its ad policy thanks to companies like Offerpal

I am not a huge fan of Offerpal, it likely has something to do with the fact that I, at one point in time, enjoyed playing Farmville. In order to earn “farm cash” you had to either fill out surveys or give the game money. The last time I tried to fill out the surveys (no, I never gave them my cell phone number or anything except for an email address I use for spam anyway) I waited and waited and never got the “farm cash” I was promised. Since that day, I haven’t played Farmville.

This practice has made a lot of people on the site angry, including editor at TechCrunch Michael Arrington, who has gone after the CEO of Offerpal to get some explanation about the company’s ethics.

Facebook posted in its blog about its ad policies and how it polices ads on the site.

The blog said, “Our policies are clear. If you’re an ad network and don’t comply with them, you are doing a disservice to your customers, and you should expect your business opportunities on Facebook to cease. The underlying issues here are bigger than ads. They’re about building an experience that users will want to come back to …no spam, no surprises.”

I completely agree with Facebook here, but I do believe that it should do something to keep spammy ad networks off the site (otherwise it will begin to look less like Facebook and start getting a reputation more along the lines of Myspace). Myspace is full of spammy ads that Facebook, so far, has steered clear of for the most part.

The ad networks used to get the “premiums” in the games like Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc. are all pretty spammy and unless someone really knows what they’re doing when they “sign up” for an “offer” or fill out some kind of quiz, then they could end up being charged for the premium services on their cell phones or other ways.